


Pumpkin

by InsominiacArrest



Category: Steven Universe - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Domestic, Domestic Fluff, F/F, Family, Fluffy McFluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-15
Updated: 2016-10-15
Packaged: 2018-08-22 12:10:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8285368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InsominiacArrest/pseuds/InsominiacArrest
Summary: Lapis and Peridot contemplate adoption as Steven brings around a young red-headed girl he and his dad found on the side of the roadBased on promos for Gem Harvest!





	

**Author's Note:**

> what am I doing

Steven had a knack for picking up strays. He liked people and people liked him, and he easily slid them into his life like Cinderella’s foot into a glass slipper. Maybe it was magic.

Lapis could call herself one of those strays, a runaway that only a 14-year-old seemed to be able to save from a rain drenched street and a bad attitude. Which was still bad. But now she lived in a barn and was in the gay relationship of her rainbow-colored dreams.

They grew produce after all. Her dreams, Rush Limbaugh’s nightmare.

Lapis was humming to herself when she picked the zucchini from the patch and slid her hands into the rich soil. It felt unnecessary, but she breathed in deeply and it was somehow very real.

She continues to water the rest of the patch and get herself dirty before Peridot came running out into the field, “Lazuli!”

Lapis arched her eyebrow up at her, “Me. The Lazuli.”

Peridot rolls her eyes, “Steven is here, he wants to show us something or something.” She says quickly with her wide green eyes and barely contained energy.

Lapis picks herself up and Peridot takes her by the wrist to drag her back towards the barn, Lapis bounced on her heels. “It’s the middle of the school week and he’s here.” Lapis blinks and then smiles, “Do you think he’s playing hooky?”  
  
Peridot glances back at her, “Let’s hope not. Don’t rub off on him, Lap.”  
  
Lapis rolls her eyes and pokes her in the cheek as they walk, “Says one dropout to another.”  
  
Peridot gives her a cheeky grin, “I have an honorary degree from kiss my ass university, love.”

Lapis laughs, “Maybe later tonight!” She cheers and Peridot laughs, but they stop mid stride when they spots what appears to be a five-year-old standing in front of their truck.  
  
“Uh,” she glances at Peridot, “Uh.” Her mouth hangs open.

Peridot elbows her and stands up straight, “Okay.” She whispers. “No more ass talk.”

“Lapis!” Steven comes around the corner and waves at them, “Peridot!” He grins at them, 

“Hi,” Peridot waved back weakly.

“We were heading this way so we thought we’d stop by.” Steven explains.

Lapis nods mutely and they shuffle over to the area before the barn doors. “So,” Lapis looks at the five-year-old, “What’s up?”

Steven shrugs and puts his hands in his pockets, Lapis gestures at the small child. “Oh!” He says, “Yeah, I need you to meet someone.”  
  
He circles around and Lapis and Peridot follow him to approach the little girl in green galoshes, blue overalls and an orange hat that matched her bright orange hair in pig-tails. She was looking up the sky with a dreamy expression on her face.

Steven got down on his knees to get her attention. He takes her hands, “Hey,” Steven takes her small hands in, she turns to him with a gap-toothed slow grin.

“What’s her name?” Peridot asked quietly as she leaned down as well to get eye-level with them.

“We’ve been calling her pumpkin.” They both jump as Greg comes around the corner and starts talking.

“Pumpkin.” Lapis repeats curiously.

Greg waves at the girls, “Yeah, we found her just walking by the side of the road carrying a pumpkin in her hands, Steven had us stop to pick her up. We’ve been calling everyone in town, but no one seems to know her or where she came from.”

Lapis hums and reaches out on of her hands towards the child, Pumpkin glances at it for a moment before reaching out slowly and wrapping one small hand around her finger. Lapis almost chokes on the air.

“She’s cute.” She says under her breath without emotion. The little girl waves back at her, Lapis gets down on her knees as Pumpkin holds her ring finger. “I’m Lapis. Lapis Lazuli.”  
  
Peridot wraps an arm around her shoulder, “And I’m Peridot, Peridot Laz-”  
  
“Wait,” Lapis groans.

“Peridot Lazuli. Too late.” She smiles, brightly, “I’ve taken your last name. You can’t have it back.” She winks at her and Lapis was on the brink of flushing red before Pumpkin distracted her with another finger squeeze.

Lapis turns back to her, “So,” she clears her throat, “No idea where she came from?”

“None.” Greg responds, “And she doesn’t talk much.”

Lapis blinks up back at him, “Much?”  
  
Steven and Greg share a look, “…Sometimes she barks.”  
  
“Ruff!” Pumpkin lets out a brief sound and Lapis almost snorts in surprise.

Peridot beams, “Oh my gosh. She’s awesome.”  
  
Pumpkin laughs and then let’s go of Lapis’s hand, her eyes drawn to bright monarch butterfly, she watches it closely before following it languidly with her hands out.

Lapis gets back up and dusts off her skirt. “What…are you going to do with her?” She asks slowly as Peridot sits on the ground next to her.

“And did you really name her Pumpkin because…she was holding a pumpkin?” Peridot inputs blandly.  
  
Greg put his hands up, “Don’t look at me. That was all Steven.”  
  
Steven shrugs, “It was that or Autumn.”  
  
“Since it’s Autumn?” Peridot responds flatly.

Lapis chuckles, “This is the kid who named his cat, Cat.” Peridot hums in agreement. “So, she hasn’t got a family?”  
  
Steven blows air out of his nose, “She has some family. We’re looking for them, but.” He bites his lip and Greg steps forward.

“I’m going to work today, that’s why we’re here, and Steven,” Greg gives him a look, “Is going to make it to school.”  
  
“Uh-huh.” Lapis picks at her teeth and keeps Pumpkin in her periphery.

“We’ve had her for around a week.” Steven explains, “But dad says it’s time…”  
  
Greg sighs, “We’re taking her to social services tonight.” He says resolutely.

Steven frowns deeply and narrows his eyes, “Or we won’t.”  
  
“Or we will.” Greg says back. “Tonight.”  
  
Lapis puts two and two together in her head, “And you didn’t just drop by because we are on the way.”  
  
They give the girls a meek look, “No. Uh,” Steven rubbed his neck, “We were sort of looking for someone to watch her for the day? Garnet and everyone are all at work.”

Lapis sighs and looks at the ground, “I guess this is what we get for not having real jobs.”

Lapis hears a high pitched laugh, “Nehehehe,” She turns around quickly to see her girlfriend showing Pumpkin one of the white butterflies she caught in her hand.

Lapis holds her breath, there was something about it that made her heart stutter. “We could, maybe. Just for the day.” She says quickly and she can hear them exhale.

“Thank you so much,” Greg pats her on the back, “It really does help us out.”  
  
Lapis nods, “No problem. It’s only for the day.”

Steven surprises her with a hug, “She’s great! She just needs to be fed in a bit.”  
  
“Is she…” Lapis flinches, “bathroom trained?”  
  
“She’s around five Lapis,” Greg says with an eyebrow up, “she is potty trained.”

Lapis discusses whatever the hell a child was with the two until it’s time for them to leave so Steven can at least make his afternoon classes.

“Bye,” Steven winks at them, “Lazuli' _sss_.”  
  
Lapis huffs, “We’re not Lazuli’s.” It was too late, Steven was waving and thought there were two Lazuli’s at the barn.

Lapis turns around to track down Peridot and the new little girl. _It was only for the day_ , she reminds herself as she remembers she knows nothing about children.

Lapis rounds the barn to find Peridot teaching Pumpkin how to plant seeds and cover them with soil, the little girl was completely enraptured.

Lapis gives a heartfelt sigh and leans on the barn to watch for a moment. Pumpkin giggles as Peridot boops her nose with dirt and they dig up a worm.

Lapis steps in to stop Pumpkin from sticking said worm into her mouth. “Okay, maybe not that.” She puts her hand down and they continue to show her how to water the new seedling.

Pumpkin starts to bark and anxiously move side to side when Lapis realizes she was probably hungry.

“Okay,” Lapis takes her little hand, “Do you like PB and J? We can make you a sandwich.”

The little girl glimmering green eyes start back at her and Peridot takes her other hand, “Look at this.” Peridot squeaks, “She’s so small.”  
  
“She has your eyes.” Lapis sighs out.

“What?” Peridot turns to her and Lapis looks away.

“I said, you’re a nerd!”

“Pfft,” Peridot leads them back into the refurbished barn that functioned as their home with plumbing and electricity and impromptu internet and everything.

Neither Peridot nor Lapis could claim to be much of a cook, but they got by and Pumpkin ate up the oranges and sandwich they presented her like a vacuum. Lapis is even ready with the Heimlich maneuver just in case.

She was washing peanut butter her face with a rag when Peridot got a phone call, “One moment.”

The other woman had a client call for her free-lance coding business and Lapis plays with Pumpkin on the ground.

“Now,” she explains, “This is a baseball bat. It’s an incredibly boring game, but a lot of girls look super cute in baseball outfits.”  
  
“Like you! Hearts, hearts.” Peridot called from the second floor.

“Do your job!” Lapis says with a laugh back, Pumpkin touches the baseball bat tentatively.

“And this is a baseball. You have to catch it, or pretend to, or at least not eat it.” She stops Pumpkin from licking the baseball.

They play on the ground with Pumpkin fascinated with the rug lining and trying to take it apart, and Lapis helping her because why not.

Peridot eventually comes back and Lapis high fives her, “Okay,” Lapis takes a deep breath in, “I was thinking, maybe we could teach her baseball?”  
  
“Why?” Peridot raises an eyebrow as she examines their ruined rug, “You don’t even like baseball.”  
  
“You got a better game to teach a kid?” Lapis helps undo another knot, “Or we can finish this rug up for the next three hours.”  
  
“Baseball it is!”

They escort pumpkin outside and find a stick small enough and small ball for her to hit.

“Okay, Pumpkin, now,” Lapis picks up a ball and Peridot helps Pumpkin hold the bat, “Your aunt Peri is gonna help you bunt the little tennis ball we found.”  
  
They duo miss it the first three times, “Come on Peridot Lapisli!” Lapis teases as she reels the tennis ball back again, “Use all two of your muscles.”  
  
“This is a five-year-old.” Peridot points down, “And _you’re going down_ , water witch!” Lapis snorts at her old name she used as a 17-year-old weirdo.

“Watch out!” She gently tosses the ball forward and Pumpkin seems to understand she’s supposed to swing, the tiny tennis ball makes contact with the stick and bounces away.

“Nooooo,” Lapis clutches her chest and Pumpkin claps her hands in delight at Lapis’s melodrama.

“Come on Pumpkin, let’s round the bases.” Peridot picks Pumpkin up by the legs and puts her on her shoulders, Pumpkin laughs again while holding on tight to her wild blondes hair.

“I’ll stop you.” Lapis gets the tennis ball back and chases Peridot slowly around the bases.

“Pumpkin, the fastest five year old known to little league, rounds first, comes around second, the meanie pitcher is straight behind her-”  
  
“And gaining!”

“But she’s gonna make it past third!”

Lapis dives to try to mock-stop them, but Peridot bounces Pumpkin past her and to home.

“And they make it! Clear all the bases, slam dunk, touchdown, Yahtzee!” Peridot cheers and tosses Pumpkin up and down, Pumpkin looks like her face will split in half as she cackles. Peridot tosses her up and down in celebration.

Lapis’s heart does another unhealthy lurch from watching them, “Oh my God.” She mutters as she watches her partner with the child. Peridot eventually puts Pumpkin down who waddles around in circles.

Lapis gets back up and dusts herself off, Peridot puffs her chest out. “Did you see me smoke that hot loser?”  
  
Lapis chuckles and approaches her, “Into the dirt.” She wraps her arms around Peridot’s neck and kisses her, “Nice homerun.”  
  
Peridot smiles, “So that’s what it’s called.”  
  
They kiss again, smooth and warm in the setting dusk with sweat and dirt on her hands and knees, Peridot kisses her sweet as the sun was ripe.

Pumpkin tugs on her skirt and barks, Lapis lets Peridot go. “You’re welcome.”  
  
Peridot rolls her eyes and Pumpkin sticks her tongue out at them, Lapis turns around and picks her up, “You sleepy yet? Because I am.”

They wonder back into the house and situate themselves on the couch, deciding to introduce her to CPH at a young age.

Peridot finishes up her clients C++ order and Lapis seems to drift off with Pumpkin nestled under her arm.

—————

“Lapis,” someone shakes her, “Lapis.”

Lapis blinks open her eyes and rubs them, “What?” She says with cotton mouth and blurry vision.

Peridot tugs at her sleeve, “Steven is here. They’ve come for, you know.”

Lapis knits her eyebrows together, “Okay.”

They give the sleepy little girl back to Steven who had managed to convince his dad to keep her for another day or so to see if the police could find her parents until then.

Peridot and Lapis climb into bed that night and Lapis stares at the ceiling. She stares for a very long time.

“Can you sleep?” She asks after 45 minutes next to each other.

Peridot grumbles into her pillow, “No.”  
  
Lapis hums, “It’s a cute kid.”  
  
Peridot sighs, “You were cuddling with her.”

Lapis snorts and elbows her, “You jealous?”  
  
“It was adorable.” Peridot says directly into the pillow, “I took five hundred pictures and could have died.”  
  
“Erase those!” She squeaks.

“Never!” Peridot tosses her phone farther from the bed.

Lapis rolls over, “But someone being cute isn’t a reason to…you know.”  
  
Peridot turns to her, “So we are thinking the same thing.”  
  
“Peridot,” Lapis pulls the covers tighter around her shoulders, “My childhood wasn’t exactly model ground for learning to raise kids.”  
  
Peridot touches Lapis’s cheek like she’s touching a louvre painting and smudging the paint, “Do you think she has anyone else though?”  
  
Lapis looked down towards her feet, “And if she doesn’t?”  
  
Peridot rolls over onto her back and faced the ceiling, “Wouldn’t we want a better family if you could have?”

Lapis snorts, “Instead of being adopted by Steven?”

Peridot grins a face-splitting smile, “Perhaps,” Lapis moves a piece of hair away, Peridot’s smile becomes strained, “Though…My business could be better.”  
  
Lapis sighs, “And it’s not like we make too much selling vegetables on the side of road.”

They both look away but Peridot grabs at her hand in the dark, “But kids,” Peridot seems to say, “They don’t need _everything_. They just need food and shelter and lot’s and lot’s of love.”  
  
Lapis smiles into her hands as she covers her face, “From where?”  
  
“Well,” Peridot weaves their hands together and they raises them up, “I love you,” she kisses her blithely on the mouth, “And I assume you don’t hate me.”  
  
“I love you.” Lapis mutters under her breath the best she can.

“So!” Peridot nestles her head down, “It doesn’t matter if we don’t have a model. That’s where it comes from.”

“I love you.” Lapis says again because she can and Peridot squirms and almost kicks her.

“Enough to raise a tiny human together?”  
  
Lapis laughs, “We won’t even have to change diapers.”

They kiss in the dark and agree to keep talking, talking, seeing if this is something they could do.

————-

They talk. Some of it done very loudly, they look at bills, they call Steven up at least seven times and he squeals and tells them to have a wedding already.

Peridot says only when Pumpkin is old enough to be a flower girl.

They keep talking and throwing food at each other and worrying about corners she could hit her head on, bottles of aspirin she could swallow. Did they have any nearby elementary schools? They buy ten parenting books. 

On the sixth day, they buy a bed and tell Greg to keep holding her. They were coming, she was coming home.

**Author's Note:**

> also! I just realized this is my 100th story, I've written 100 fics for ao3 (not counting the ones I delete)! :V  
> happy whatever that means


End file.
